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Cam Newton scheduled for shoulder surgery, won't be available for Panthers offseason workouts

The Carolina Panthers will prepare for the 2017 season without quarterback Cam Newton.

The team posted an article on its website on Tuesday announcing that Newton will have shoulder surgery on March 30 to repair a partially torn rotator cuff.

Newton was injured in the Panthers’ Dec. 11 win over the San Diego Chargers, and an MRI showed the tear. He finished that game with San Diego and did not miss any snaps over the final three weeks of the season.

Cam Newton suffered a partially torn rotator cuff in the Panthers’ December win over the Chargers. (AP)
Cam Newton suffered a partially torn rotator cuff in the Panthers’ December win over the Chargers. (AP)

His recovery is scheduled to take four months, which would make him available during training camp.

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Carolina head athletic trainer Ryan Vermillion explained why Newton did not have surgery as soon as the season ended:

“We developed a plan for Cam to take a period of rest, a period of rehabilitation and treatment, and then start a gradual throwing program the first part of March,” Vermillion said. “Cam started his program, and the early parts of his rehab had been going well. However, as we worked to advance him into the next stage – the strengthening stage, the throwing stage – he started to have an increase in his pain level and started having pain while throwing.

“As a result, (head team physician) Dr. Pat Connor felt the most prudent procedure would be to arthroscopically repair the shoulder.”

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweeted that Newton had commitments over the next several days he did not want to back out of, thus pushing the surgery back to the end of the month.

Newton will begin rehabbing shortly after the procedure, but Vermillion said he will not begin a throwing program until 12 weeks post-surgery.

The Panthers also announced that veteran defensive lineman Charles Johnson underwent back surgery on Tuesday, a microdiscectomy after an epidural injection offered no relief and Johnson began feeling worse.